The Rose that Grew from Concrete

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1999

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The Rose

When Tupac chose the symbol of the rose for his extended metaphor, he chose a symbol that is rich in poetic history in both English and American verse; a flower deeply ingrained in various cultures. The rose is a symbol of delicate beauty, but it is also a symbol of danger because of its thorns. Roses also come in different colors and sizes, and they emit different fragrances. Some roses grow wild, while many others are grown, tended, and cared for in gardens and for commercial purposes. For many people, roses symbolize love. They’re offered to someone else, frequently a love interest, to express beauty, transience, and affection.

Despite the rose’s love-laced legacy, Tupac doesn’t just use the symbol of the rose as most people do; instead, he flips its literary tradition on its head and in more ways than one. For example, Tupac’s rose is neglected and growing through “a crack in the concrete” (Line 2). This is a rose that no one wants or cares about but that has nonetheless grown to become a rose. It’s not a rose for a valentine, it’s a rose that symbolizes self-love and tenacity. Likewise, Tupac himself came from disenfranchised neighborhoods. These inner-city neighborhoods, often referred to derogatively as “the ghetto,” face routine censure from the status quo in various ways; people are routinely discouraged through circumstance and systemic racism from becoming people of note like poets and artists. Tupac, however, grew through the cracks to be something both beautiful and dangerous like the rose—his growth (success) itself was dangerous to the status quo.

The Modernist poet Gertrude Stein famously wrote that “a rose is a rose is a rose” (Stein, Gertrude. “Sacred Emily.” Four Seasons Co., 1913), a line that means that a thing is essentially what it is and nothing more. But Tupac’s “rose” is more than just a rose because it grew despite terrible odds, making it more than its part and more resilient than any “normal” rose.

The Concrete

In this poem, the concrete is not just a symbol of neglect but of the urban inner-city poverty in America where Tupac grew up. Tupac, who moved between Baltimore and Marin City, California, experienced the poverty of inner-city America in the 1980s and early 1990s, and his music and poetry reflect his urban upbringing. Due to Tupac’s association with the drug trade at one point, the “crack” which the rose has managed to grow through in the poem could also be a nod to “crack cocaine.” Crack was consuming inner-city neighborhoods, including the ones in which Tupac lived while growing up. Tupac also once sold drugs, and his mother developed a crack addiction when moving to California. When read this way, “Did you hear about the rose that grew / from a crack in the concrete?” (Lines 1-2) suggests that Tupac had gone through tough and gritty circumstances while growing up, but he did so like the rose of the poem to become the artist he eventually became. He literally survived the crack epidemic. The repetition of “concrete” also adds sense of hardness to the poem that offsets the delicate beauty of the rose. Both the rose and Tupac must pass through something hard like “concrete” to become something beautiful like the rose.

Dreams

In “The Rose That Grew from Concrete,” dreams work as a symbol of perseverance and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. The dream of the rose is a metaphor for the belief that Tupac had in himself, and the courage he had to follow his goals. In one sense, the dream of the rose could be interpreted as the American dream, but it is distinctively the African American dream of Tupac; a rapper and revolutionary spirit that dreamed and worked his way to international stardom. The dream in this poem symbolizes individual desire and the will to not give up, and it is representative of the fighting spirit of Tupac and African American people. The dream goes beyond just surviving; it aspires and inspires the subject to new things, like learning to “breathe fresh air” (Line 6). It is because of the dream that we have the rose from concrete and Tupac Shakur.